Díaz-Jaramillo Mauricio, Islas María Soledad, Gonzalez Mariana
IIMyC, Estresores Múltiples en el Ambiente (EMA), FCEyN, UNMdP, CONICET, Funes 3350 (B7602AYL), Mar Del Plata, 7600, Argentina.
IIMyC, Estresores Múltiples en el Ambiente (EMA), FCEyN, UNMdP, CONICET, Funes 3350 (B7602AYL), Mar Del Plata, 7600, Argentina; Departamento de Química y Bioquímica, FCEyN, UNMdP, Funes 3350, Mar Del Plata, 7600, Argentina.
Environ Pollut. 2021 Mar 15;273:116398. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116398. Epub 2021 Jan 7.
Although estuaries act as a sink of many pollutants, the assessment of microplastics pollution in these transition environments remain scarce or unknown. Sediments from estuarine intertidal areas possess a great ecological concern but also could act as a sink of both buoyant and non-buoyant plastic debris. In this work, we have compared microplastic abundances and their main characteristics (size, shape, colour and polymer type) on intertidal sediments from SW Atlantic Argentinean estuaries (Samborombón, Mar Chiquita, Quequén Grande and Bahía Blanca). The mean microplastics abundance in surface sediments among estuaries was ranged from 0 to 1030 ± 657 items per kg d. w. Upper intertidal areas have shown significant higher microplastic abundances in comparison with lower intertidal zones (p < 0.05). In general, higher mean abundances were observed in surface (0-10 cm) compared to deeper sediments (10-30 cm), which revealed recent deposition trends of microplastics particles. However, higher microplastic abundances were observed in deeper sediments from Bahía Blanca (p < 0.05). Large (MPs, 1-5 mm) and small microplastics (MMPs, 1-0.1 mm) were observed in sediments from all estuaries, representing from 17 to 100% of total microplastics abundance. In terms of shape, fragments and films forms were dominant in all samples while fibers and foams were moderately or poorly represented. White, black, blue and transparent particles were observed as the main colour contribution of microplastics in sediments. The most common polymers identified included polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate/polyester, polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene. The results showed that microplastic characteristics are different among the estuarine environments, which suggests different anthropogenic sources. Besides, deeper sediments should also be included on intertidal sediment monitoring to identify potential environmental liabilities from anthropogenically impacted estuaries.
尽管河口是许多污染物的汇，但对这些过渡环境中微塑料污染的评估仍然很少或未知。河口潮间带的沉积物不仅引起了极大的生态关注，而且可能成为漂浮和非漂浮塑料碎片的汇。在这项工作中，我们比较了西南大西洋阿根廷河口（桑博龙邦湾、奇基塔湖、克肯格兰德河和布兰卡湾）潮间带沉积物中微塑料的丰度及其主要特征（尺寸、形状、颜色和聚合物类型）。各河口表层沉积物中微塑料的平均丰度范围为每千克干重0至1030±657个。与低潮间带相比，高潮间带的微塑料丰度显著更高（p<0.05）。总体而言，与深层沉积物（10-30厘米）相比，表层（0-10厘米）的平均丰度更高，这揭示了微塑料颗粒最近的沉积趋势。然而，在布兰卡湾的深层沉积物中观察到更高的微塑料丰度（p<0.05）。在所有河口的沉积物中都观察到了大尺寸微塑料（1-5毫米）和小尺寸微塑料（1-0.1毫米），分别占微塑料总丰度的17%至100%。在形状方面，碎片和薄膜形式在所有样本中占主导地位，而纤维和泡沫的占比适中或较低。白色、黑色、蓝色和透明颗粒是沉积物中微塑料的主要颜色组成。鉴定出的最常见聚合物包括聚乙烯、聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯/聚酯、聚氯乙烯和聚丙烯。结果表明，河口环境中微塑料的特征不同，这表明存在不同的人为来源。此外，潮间带沉积物监测还应包括深层沉积物，以确定受人为影响的河口潜在的环境负担。
